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Volume 21 : Chapter 08 — Counterattack in Rain, Wind, and Fog.

Bardray recovered the sword from the body of the monster.

As soon as the sword was removed the monsters body turned grey.

“Finally today.”

He had achieved level 465 with today’s hunt.

Using shortcuts would provide relatively easy gains in levels, However Bardray didn’t choose to use such methods but opted to battle with his own abilities.

The public posted level was not his true strength.

“The time has come for the Hermes Guild to open your eyes.”

Bardray had created the Guild, it was time to show their power to the whole world.

A hegemonic power created from a combined force of 93 Guilds along with the prestigious Hermes Guild had already completed its preparations for war.

It was needless to point out that any guild, castle or city outside of the hegemonic alliance will have a sword pointed at them.

Of course the supremacy alliance was a temporary one.

The moment the coalition dissolves war will take place between them since each guild has boundless ambitions.

Bardray had been waiting for that day.

“There isn’t room at the top for two.”

In the fierce battle for control of the central mainland continent the other power groups have been waiting with bated breath to take down the prestigious guilds. They desire to claim the exclusive hunting areas with their equipment and rare items.

Now that the war was starting everyone will soon come to understand and know the true power of the Hermes Guild.

*****

Wellston Fortress, Haven Kingdom

The users of the Berisa Continent were watching the combat between Weed and the Haven Kingdom fleet at Jigolaths in real-time.

“Kill him!”

“It’s no joke playing cat and mouse in that river. Another bottle of beer over here please.”

Some of the pirates had signed contracts with the broadcasters and were transmitting images from them. Thanks to the media agency you could watch within game from a pub or restaurant.

KMC media had decided to air Weed’s battle since they didn’t want to fall behind. With the Pirates and the Haven Fleet users already on the scene there was no reason to delay the broadcast, especially since other users were also being broadcast

KMC Media was able to show Weed’s point of view which allowed the viewers to enjoy the suspense of being chased. Of course in broadcasting the time difference of Royal Road vs real-time can be difficult to handle, the key to solving this problem is using advertising to fill in those gaps!

The consistent increase in viewers watching the game broadcast was more than enough to cause a profound effect in the growth of this market. In order to avoid the Royal Road TV viewers from getting bored music and other news about the continent were also shown.

Those parties that had been out hunting or doing quest couldn’t get inside a pub ended up watching or listening from the street. Weed’s battle was being broadcast to pubs that were as crowded as if a favorite football team was playing.

“ kyaa! The taste of strawberry milk is to die for. “

“Drink it sparingly. It cost 30 coppers.”

For beginners, there were drinks tailored for underage student available like special milk or juice only cocktails. Even in the loud hubbub atmosphere of shops the stories about Weed would be broadcast as customers continued to shop.

“Will Weed be able to get away safely? It’s so hard to watch that it’s giving me goose bumps.”

“The way things are going right now I don’t feel like he can.”

The collapse of the canyon didn’t outright sink more than a few warships of the Haven Kingdom Fleet. Those hit directly by a block of ice sank, others had their hulls crushed making navigation next to impossible.

Nevertheless Drinfeld continued advancing, closely chasing Weed despite the setbacks of the fleet.

Though it was a considerable distance from the canyon that collapsed the haven kingdom fleet was moving faster and had a better firing range, the chase was heating up.

*Rumble -rumble -rumble*

A thick misty fog enveloped the Unfreezing River, raindrops started falling.

Although no one else knew about it there was a reason why the rain started so suddenly, Weed was using the cloud sculpture technique to call the rain in order to help them escape.

“Will the rain give them enough of an edge to escape?”

“I’m not sure. Aren’t we all going in the same direction anyway?”

“I think it will depend on how high the waves rise and the ship types, in general our sailing ship will run smoothly while the pirate galley type ships will be handicapped.”

“It will also weaken the power of the cannons. At the same time they won’t be able to use those bombs like they used before, our cannon range will also drop.”

The raindrops became large drops, the large and medium ships crowded their sails. As the ships sailed through the mist on the Unfreezing River you could not help seeing their classical grace and dignity. After experiencing an intensely stressful battle a scenic view will become even more breathtaking in contrast.

KMC media which had been broadcasting scenes from the Jigolaths river warfare was interrupted and the screen cut to their studio.

Miss Hye-min Shin quickly spoke.

“We interrupt this program for this current breaking news. Fighting has simultaneously commenced in the central area of the Versailles Continent.”

The users in the pubs were more interested in eating and drinking than this news story. In the Versailles continent combat could take place at any time with ongoing attempts to gain territory. This meant invasion from either Lords or monsters.

This was a every day occurrence here.

The adventures of Weed are well-known for it’s various effects, the most important from the standpoint of the users was the scale of changes they brought to the Versailles Continent.

“More than 200 castles from the center of the continent are involved in these battles, affected areas include; Tullen Kingdom, Haven Kingdom, Madsen Kingdom, Thor Kingdom, Aidern Kingdom, Britten Alliance and others.”

“What, over 200 castles?”

“What happened to create so many battles?”

The scope of the battles was so large that it left the users in the taverns confused. The size of the central continent is immense, yet there are many cities and castles that are not controlled by users.

Many of them were also without Lords.

“There is a battle between Guilds and Lords over the ownership of a mountain mine, a town and the surrounding fields.

So Mr. Oh Ju-wan, Didn’t you say there was something very special about the battle?”

“That’s right. So far the specific information is that only a single large group that has made an abrupt declaration of war.”

“How large are they?”

“By the end of the siege it will be likely be over 10,000.”

“That included the number of soldiers trained right?”

“Of course. This battle is over the control of the resources, hunting areas and dungeon ownership. What we know up to now is this, the fighting is spreading and becoming more violent in the combat zones. Users who are making travel plan will need to exercise caution when going and returning from these areas.”

“The current areas experiencing battles are expected to widen and change over time, We’ll keep you up to date on those changes as they occur.”

In the wake of sudden war the central continent has been engulfed in chaos.

*****

“Everyone toss everything!”

“Dump the cannons into the river.”

Heinteu, Fractal and Boardmir threw the cannons, cannonballs and any loose materials on the deck into the river. The plan was to speed up the ship by reducing the weight even if the gains were small.

“There’s nothing the three of us can do in a fight like this, there’s nothing else to do but run!”

The sculpture lifeforms followed this and helped them in dumping the cannons overboard.

The Haven Kingdom fleet and the Pirates were following right behind, with the tension to get away all mouths were left completely dry.

Weed continued to make clouds as he watched the Haven Kingdom fleet and Pirate ships. The Phoenix and the Fire Giant by flying through the air continuously turned water into vapor and the vapor added to the rain.

After a while the power of the Phoenix weakened and it climbed higher until it was above the clouds and then stopped.

“This rain is really big.”

The sails were tightly straining from the winds that blew strongly. When the clouds suddenly took a turn for the worse even Weed had not expected it.

The climate near the Jigolaths area was subject to severe changes. This place experience a mixture of cold and warm winds, this mixture created severe storms. Yet for all that even if that level was a lighting and thunder-storm it was still possible to sail.

Weed then asked Heinteu.

“Will the rain help us get away?”

Sailing down the Unfreezing River Heinteu was turning the helm at key moments his sharp eyes measuring their slowly increasing speed.

“There are more chances to get away in bad weather but it depends on some variables. One thing is the cannon accuracy will decrease because of the wave motion, we might live if we could disappear from their view. However there’s no real chance of that since there is no place to hide on a river.”

Many years of doing bad things and getting away prompted these insightful comments. Heinteu and the trio had considerable experience sailing in bad weather. Each of the triad then spoke up one after the other.

“Somehow we need to get away from the glacier area. Otherwise we’ll eventually be caught.”

“Even though you avoided damage in Jigolaths, the nickname of Drinfeld’s fleet is the Spanish Armada. When they attack there are no survivors.”

“The nightmare of the sea is called being chased by pirates, they allow no possibility of escape.”

A Pirate Galley, once in the sea, is weak in heavy seas and the sails don’t have much power. Slaves are then used to row them. To resist pirates in a close chase is very tough to do.

-lets make a plan to get away.

-We can use those wooden planks.

-We’ll need some rope.

They were going to tie themselves to the planks. Then after reaching the ocean the trio would then use the material and throw themselves overboard. Drifting while holding on to a wooden plank was something they were prepared to do.

Even if they only lived for a few more days in the waves, they would be happy if they could gain just that.

The mid-sized ship was sailing in a downpour filled with large raindrops. Due to the swollen river the more than 18-year-old ship rocked dangerously as it followed it’s course downstream.

Due to the thick fog and rain they could barely tell that they had almost reached the sea. Narrowly avoiding rocks while sailing was a wonderful display of good seat of the pants navigation.

The moment they entered the sea the rain began to lighten, the fog also lessened giving them a much wider field of view.

Ting!

–You have had the misfortune to encounter a phantom ship.

The ship is infested with rats.

There exist a high chance that it carries a plague.

Major increase in the probabilities of attacks from sea creatures.

The morale of the crew will drop to the lowest level.

If morale stays at the lowest level insanity or mutiny is highly likely to occur

There, spread out in the sea, was a colossal fleet of phantom ships that seemed to have no end in sight.

These were decrepit, time-worn phantom ships but the scale of the gathering was massive. Furthermore, they were continuing to arrive.

Weed had brought the rain and clouds for these phantom ships. It’s important to gain even a small advantage when dealing with weather at sea.

“Woo.”

The trio was surprised when Weed held up both hands. Written in Barkhan’s Magic Tome was the Advanced Undead Summoner Skills.

Now was the moment to use it.

“Souls of evil spirits that were asleep, take this offering and arise from your wandering beneath the green sea.

“Summon phantom ship the Maria.”

Weed’s mid-sized sailboat rapidly turned decrepit. Her mast, keel and hull distorts and ages. The white sails become dark and tattered, fluttering in the wind. From the bottom keel moss and mold grew climbing up the hull and into the rigging transforming into an aged phantom ship!

“Ke Ke Ke. Long time no see, Cap’tain. It looks like ye’ve been doing well. Good ta see ye keeping yer bones looking so sharp and regal.”

A phantom ships captains true wealth is in the ship and the size of it’s ghost crew.

Back in Jigolaths the Haven Kingdom Fleet had sunk the Maria to the bottomless abyss but now with Weeds favor it has been called back.

The strategic point where the Unfreezing River intersected the sea was in chaos, there a close square formation of phantom ships had gathered.

Weed burst out with his advanced level 7 Lion’s Roar.

“Prepare for battle!”

-Skill; ‘The Lion’s Roar’ has been used.

The Lion’s Roar has raised moral by 200% for all allies within range.

Any present state of confusion will be cleared.

An extra 285% increase in Leadership will be applied for five minutes

*****

“How much longer now?”

“We should reach the Unfreezing River this morning, that means we’ll make it there with plenty of time.”

Pale and his companions were currently sailing towards Jigolaths.

It was a long way to sail but they had plenty of supplies and were able fish. They only had to follow the phantom ship so there was no worries about losing their way.

The raindrops were coming down harder as they got closer to Jigolaths.

Bell cupped her hands together to catch some rainwater.

Mapan gave a firm nod.

“It falls into an empty sea yet it is still, somehow romantic.”

In the magic orb that the merchant Mapan owned they could see Weed watching the fleet of Drinfeld while fleeing.

They hoped their boat would arrive just in time.

*****

“Lookout, give precise and detailed reports in a calm manner.”

“Take extra care to not allow the ship to be hung by those rocks.”

The Unfreezing River had risen.

It was confusing for anyone even on a clear sunny day to locate and avoid being caught by submerged rocks.

Drinfeld’s fleet and the pirates nautical skills were not up to the task at hand.

The 3 crazy-mad sharks of Becky-Nin steering the ship like their lives depended on it had been able to quickly pass through. They simply had too many ships, they got tangled trying to get passed the rocks that had been covered with water making it far more difficult.

Out of several boats one would hit a sunken rock, each of these vessels would take a while to move costing them a great deal of time.

“Incompetent bastards. This is completely absurd!”

Drinfeld’s temper went through the roof, thus far Weed’s mid-sized ship had not been allowed the chance to run away. Drinfeld was in a tearing hurry.

“In the open sea if we go full out with every sail crowded it’ll be really easy to get him.”

The Vice-commodore had some advice for Drinfeld, unfortunately it did not reach his ears.

In Jigolaths they played tricks and ate heartily.

Several ships sank in the Unfreezing River.

The fact the Weed is somewhere ahead of us hidden by mist in the sea is very disturbing.

“Contact the high-speed ships. Have them pursue Weed without delay.”

“Yes Sir!”

On board the large warship Drinfeld had time to prepare for hand-to-hand combat, since they carried so many cannons the weight meant they were not as fast as the high-speed ships.

Built for speed and lightly armed like a dutch trader they had the speed of a clipper ship, these speed ships could bridge the current gap to Weed.

Drinfeld assigned this duty to 13 small to mid-sized speed ships. They had been following the fleet at half sails but now they spread them out fully.

“The Admiral’s given the order! Crowd all sails, full speed ahead!”

The high-speed sailing ship’s Captain shouted out the orders.

Filling with their sails with wind the high-speed ship accelerates quickly down the Unfreezing River. The leading ship passes through the rocks with a display of exquisite sailing.

Moments later the first report from the high-speed ship was received.

-Our current location is near the river. The ship we’ve been chasing is here in the fog.

Drinfeld patience was wearing thin but Weed was not that far away. Even with their slower pace at this distance he can move the main fleet and catch up easily.

If your boat is faster than those of Drinfeld’s fleet you can outrun the range of his cannons and escape. The ship Weed stole won’t be able to do that since it is not a high-speed type.

-It will be within targeting range of the cannon soon.

The cannons mounted on the high-speed ship were small and lightweight but they had enough of them to overwhelm Weed’s ship with their attack.

Still, Drinfeld didn’t want to hand Weed over to others.

-Shoot him. Don’t sink him though, just damage him enough so he can’t escape me.

-Yes Admiral.

As the high-speed ships advanced the mist started to break up and lighten.

As the mid-sized sailing ship became clearly visible to the eye they could only gape in astonishment.

Not too long ago the mid-sized sailboat had been clean and bright, now it looked like it had been worn down by the sea for over a hundred years.

In place of the Haven Kingdom Flag flew the black flag of a one-eyed skull sitting on piles of coins.

“It’s a phantom ship?”

“Such an enormous amount of ships. Why are there so many suddenly here at the Jigolaths?”

“They’re all phantom ships. With all the phantom ships gathered this is a disaster. All hands, prepare for battle!”

The huge fleet of ships behind Weed’s ship were all Phantom Ships.

After reporting to Drinfeld the high-speed ship tried to turn back to the fleet but couldn’t veer off in time, seconds later the bow of the ship was hit.

Weed’s Roar of a Lion rang out over the sea.

“All Phantom Ships! Prepare to fire!”

“Aye aye,…run out all cannons.”

“Was that run out the guns? My ears ain’t young no more, hey is that something trying to eat them?”

“Why isn’t it working?”

It was quite a sight to see the same scene was happening on board every ship of the phantom fleet. Seaweed had gown over the cannons after 50 plus years and the ghost crews were trying to cut away these tangles. Slashing at the seaweed with their knives sparks flew about and landed on the primed wicks.

“Fire!”

Kwang Kwang Kwang!

At that moment some of the cannons exploded since maintenance is not something phantom ships take much care about.

“Was that proper cannon fire?”

One of the crew, a skeleton, then stuck its head into a canon to check conditions. This was after the wicks had already been ignited.

Kwang Kwang!

The cannon fired with a normal discharge and the skeleton’s head disappeared.

“Success. The cannonball fired properly. By the way, where’s my head? ”

The skeleton then wandered around on deck as a body looking for whatever might remain of it’s head!

“There’s no cannonballs. Did somebody get the munchies awhile ago and eat them? Or maybe they were lost while playing with them?”

“There are no cannonballs here, this is a merchant ship.”

“Lets use dried fish instead.”

Amongst the phantom ships were those that had once been merchants or passenger ships, those types never had cannonballs to begin with. Of course it was always possible to capture guns and ammo from other ships at sea if they didn’t have them.

“I’m going in. ku ku ku! Ok, Here I go!”

The ghost crews were entering their own cannons and firing themselves like cannonballs. This crazy kind of behavior is relatively normal on board a phantom ship.

The cannonballs fired by the phantom ships flew in concert over Weed towards the high-speed sailing ships. Columns of water soared high in the water around the high-speed sailing ships, the accuracy rate was very low. Cannonballs also exploded like fireworks as they hit each other in the air.

“Take evasive action!”

“We can’t avoid this many! Prepare the guns for a counterattack!”

The Captains of the High-Speed Ships had to try to prepare the cannons while their ships used zigzag course patterns. But the Phantom ships had just fired randomly without bothering to aim.

Most of them hit nothing but the sea but those that hit the High-Speed Ships exploded. The cannonballs that pierced through the deck and hulls lit up the ships with blazing hot balls of fire.

Sections of the hulls broke off and flames began to start.

“Fire!”

The High-Speed Ships were trying to fire back yet with every cannonball explosion their ships would shake violently causing the ships to roll from side to side.

“Ku-he-he-he! Hu-mans.”

Even in the chaos Ghost crews began to board. Giant slippery tentacles sprang up from the sea snatching sailors off the decks. Clinging to the hull the octopus-like-head of the Sea Monster began to rise out of the water.

The Captain of the high-speed mission urgently sent a message to the Hermes Guild chat channel.

Stringer: We’re being attacked by Phantom Ships. This is an emergency we are being destroyed.

The Vice-commodore of the Haven Kingdom 2nd Fleet replied.

Pache: How many Phantom Ships are there?

During the Jigolaths engagements the Hermes Guild and the Haven Fleet shared a single chat channel, currently this channel was a hot topic and so had a lot of listeners from the Guild.

Stringer: Right now…there’s not much time to explain. This will be our last message as we’ll most likely be sunk. Our mission target; Weed’s ship, has transformed into a Phantom Ship, we now assumed that he is therefore also responsible for the fleet of Phantom Ships that are attacking us. All our ships will be destroyed in this battle! This is an A1 emergency request for aid!

Pache: How did the situation suddenly beco…acknowledged. We will be there A-sap.

By the time Drinfeld’s Main Fleet left the Unfreezing River and arrived at the high-speed convoy location they had all either sank or were on their way to becoming sea monster food.

They had gone looking for the High-Speed Convoy expecting to find Phantom Ships and Sea Monsters but even so they could not hide their shock.

“Well, though they told me ahead of time I didn’t believe it would have gone this far.”

High-Speed Ships that had Sea Monsters enclosing them looked to have had no choice but to give up. Ghost had boarded and were engaging in hand to hand combat on the ship decks. The hulls spat out flames and rolling clouds of black smoke. They had gotten here too late to prevent them from sinking into the sea.

“We won’t be able evade a battle of this scope.”

The tough part for the users of Drinfeld’s Haven Fleet was that they had only just left the mouth of the Unfreezing River. The position of the Phantom Fleet was waiting at the ideal location to open fire from the surrounding sea.

This meant that under the circumstances moving forward meant becoming nothing more than easy targets.

To gain his title of Grand Admiral, Drinfeld had fought his way through hundreds of maritime battles. He had the skill to bring about a complete reversal.

“Phantom Ships couldn’t hit a barn door. All armor reinforced ships to the front. Do not use evasive actions, bear straight ahead. 1st squad and 3rd squad will attack on the left and right flanks. They will attack from outside the Phantom Fleet range.”

Due to the huge number of Sea Monsters and Phantom Ships they were ready to hold their location and take them head on. Based on the sheer amount of firepower from the Phantom Fleet they were all hungry to annihilate the oncoming battleships.

Drinfeld felt this engagement would lead to a huge naval victory that could make up for the past public failures.

Phantom Ships had only one way to gain rewards, that was through victory in a naval battle. Also they could earn fame just like the land users did when they looted dungeons.

It was also fairly commonplace for all Phantom Ships to house treasure and antiques.